Longtime radio host Garrison Keillor apologizes to 'poets' but not alleged victim after he's fired over inappropriate behavior

Garrison Keillor, the force behind the popular "A Prairie Home Companion" show, was fired by Minnesota Public Radio on Wednesday over inappropriate behavior claims.

The radio station received a complaint about about improper actions with an employee while Keillor oversaw the popular Saturday afternoon radio show, it said in a lengthy statement.

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Keillor had continued producing a literary show called "The Writer's Almanac" after retiring from "A Prairie Home Companion" last year.

Keillor, who called the firing "a real distinction in broadcasting," maintained the matter was just a misunderstanding with a female employee.

"I put my hand on a woman's bare back," Keillor said in an email to the Star Tribune. "I meant to pat her back after she told me about her unhappiness and her shirt was open and my hand went up it about six inches. She recoiled. I apologized."

Keillor then emailed the woman again to express remorse, to which she responded "not to think about it."

"We were friends," Keillor told the newspaper. "We continued to be friendly right up until her lawyer called."

Garrison Keillor continued to produce a show after retiring from "A Prairie Home Companion" last year. (Ann Heisenfelt/AP)

Later Wednesday, Keillor apologized to pretty much everyone but his alleged victim.

"I am sorry for all the poets whose work I won't be reading on the radio and sorry for the people who will lose work on account of this," a statement posted to Keillor's website reads. "But my profound feeling is that of gratitude, especially to my wife Jenny, and for this painful experience that has brought us even closer together."

Keillor described himself as a non-physical person who didn't like embracing other performers when "A Prairie Home Companion" wrapped up every Saturday.

The 75-year-old radio personality even tried to turn the tables and say he was the victim.

"If I had a dollar for every woman who asked to take a selfie with me and who slipped an arm around me and let it drift down below the beltline, I'd have at least a hundred dollars," he told the Star Tribune. "So this is poetic irony of a high order. But I'm just fine. I had a good long run and am grateful for it and for everything else."

Minnesota Public Radio didn't see it that way, announcing in a statement that all ties to Keillor's companies have been cut.

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"MPR takes these allegations seriously and we are committed to maintaining a safe, respectful and supportive work environment for all employees and everyone associated with MPR," the broadcaster said in a statement.

The broadcaster will no longer circulate his syndicated show "The Writer's Almanac," nor distribute reproductions of "The Best of A Prairie Home Companion."

Keillor previously told the Associated Press he was let go because of "a story that I think is more interesting and more complicated than the version MPR heard."

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He's the latest to be fired over misconduct allegations, which have swept through Hollywood and the broadcast business.

Just a day earlier he penned an op-ed in support of fellow a Minnesotan, Sen. Al Franken.

The Democrat has been under fire since radio host Leeann Tweeden accused him of making unwanted advances during a 2006 USO tour in Afghanistan.

Keillor declined to detail what happened in the incident that got him fired. (Will Ragozzino/Getty Images)

A photo surfaced of Franken grabbing at Tweeden's breasts while she slept on a flight back from the tour.

"This is pure absurdity, and the atrocity it leads to is a code of public deadliness," Keillor wrote. "No kidding."

Keillor created the variety show in 1974, and it currently reaches 2.6 million people across 600 radio stations on a weekly basis, according to his website.

He played himself in the 2006 film "A Prairie Home Companion," a fictionalized version of the long-running radio show.